620 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



is not the only tree that bears a name common to Europe and 



Asia. We find, a second in the willow, whether with respect to this 



name, now most commonly applied to it in England, or to the term 



withey, which was the more frequent name in Anglo-Saxon times. 



Both names have reference to the use of the twigs for wicker work, 



the former having its origin in a root meaning to twist or turn round, 



found also in our verbs toheel and walze, the latter from one meaning 



to weave ; and thus both testify that the Arians, before the Indian and 



European branches of the race separated from each other, used willow 



twigs for wicker. The initial letter of " willow " varies in different 



languages, either to S., as in the Latin saliv, or to an aspirate, as in 



the Greek helix ; and through the former the name comes into English 



in the modified form of salloiv. This change of initial guides us to a 



connection between the tree-name and our words " hall " and " saloo?i", 



the latter a derivative, through " salon " of the French " salle '\ 



Chaucer writes : — 



" Whoso that bildeth his hous all of salwes, 

 And pricketh his blind hors over the falwes, 

 Is worthy to be honged on the galwes. " 



The style of building alluded to is that known in Cheshire as ' wattle 

 and daub', and consists of a framework of rods, with twigs interwoven, 

 so as to make a kind of rude wicker, the interstices of which are filled 

 up with a daubing of clay. It is of ancient date, for there is, I believe, 

 evidence that the ancient lake dwellings of Switzerland were thus 

 made, and apparently the Arians of Europe used willow twigs for the 

 purpose, and called their edifices by the name of the material, so that the 

 old forms of ' hall ' and ' salle ' came to mean a house. The words 

 had also the alternative meaning of a stall, and thus, as Dr. Prior 

 observes, seem to tell us "that our ancestors dwelt in houses of wicker 

 " work, even men of rank. In fact, the royal sheepcote was in the 

 "primitive nation the royal palace, as among the Tartars of the interior 

 " of Asia is the ' aoul ' of the present day". ' 



Among the plant names which belong to the earliest Arian period 

 may be reckoned ' barley ', or rather the first portion of that name. 

 The latter syllable" ley " is merely an adjunct, the equivalent of" leek ", 

 which in Anglo-Saxon times meant herb or plant, and is found, in 

 such names as house-leek, char-lock, hem-lock, appertaining to plants 

 that in no way resemble the vegetable, dear to Welshmen, to which we 



